Henry Stuart Hazlitt American economist, philosopher, literary critic and journalist Date of Birth: 28.11.1894 Country: USA

1. Early Life and Influences
2. Early Career and Economic Insights
3. Ascent in Journalism and Economic Expertise
4. Literary Criticism and "The American Mercury"
5. Marriage and Anthology
6. Financial Journalism at The New York Times
7. "Newsweek" and Free Market Advocacy
8. Later Years and Intellectual Legacy

Early Life and Influences

Henry Stuart Hazlitt, a distant relative of the British essayist William Hazlitt, was born on November 28, 1894, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Raised in Brooklyn, New York, he faced adversity at a young age with the loss of his father. Inspired by Herbert Spencer and William James, Hazlitt initially pursued a career in psychology and philosophy at the City College of New York but was forced to leave to support his widowed mother.

Early Career and Economic Insights

Beginning his career as a stenographer at The Wall Street Journal, Hazlitt developed a keen interest in economics. His study of Philip Wicksteed's "The Common Sense of Political Economy" profoundly influenced his thinking. At 21, he published his first book, "Thinking as a Science." During World War I, he served in the Army Air Force in Texas before returning to New York City.

Ascent in Journalism and Economic Expertise

In the early 1920s, Hazlitt's economic knowledge deepened during his tenure as financial editor at The New York Evening Mail, where he engaged in discussions with Benjamin Anderson, a former Harvard economics professor. From 1925 to 1929, he served as literary editor of The New York Sun and later as editor of The Nation from 1930 to 1933. He edited "A Practical Program for America" in 1932, contributing political insights on the Great Depression. Disagreements with socialist Louis Fischer over Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal led to his departure from The Nation.

Literary Criticism and "The American Mercury"

In 1933, Hazlitt published "The Anatomy of Criticism," a treatise on literary criticism. He succeeded H. L. Mencken as editor of The American Mercury, founded by Mencken and George Jean Nathan. However, differences with publisher Alfred A. Knopf, Sr. led to Hazlitt's departure, despite Mencken hailing him as "the only competent literary critic...and a competent economist" and "one of the very few economists in human history who can actually write."

Marriage and Anthology

In 1936, Hazlitt married Frances Kanes, the author of "The Concise Bible." Together, they later edited the 1984 anthology "The Wisdom of the Stoics," featuring selections from Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. They remained married until Kanes' death in 1991.

Financial Journalism at The New York Times

From 1934 to 1936, Hazlitt became The New York Times' chief financial and economic writer, penning a weekly column on current affairs. After World War II, his opposition to the Bretton Woods Agreement and resulting conflict with publisher Arthur Hays Sulzberger led to his departure from The New York Times.

"Newsweek" and Free Market Advocacy

Hazlitt worked for Newsweek from 1946 to 1966. Unlike many writers of his generation who veered between socialism and communism, he maintained his classical liberal political views. He co-founded and served as vice president of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), a free-market think tank. He was also an early member of the classical liberal Mont Pelerin Society in 1947.

Later Years and Intellectual Legacy

In 1966, when Hazlitt left Newsweek, he was replaced by three university professors: Milton Friedman of the University of Chicago, Henry Wallich of Yale, and Paul A. Samuelson of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Hazlitt's last published academic article appeared in the inaugural volume of The Review of Austrian Economics in 1987.

His philosophical magnum opus was "The Foundations of Morality" in 1964, defending utilitarianism influenced by David Hume and John Stuart Mill. "The Way to Will-Power" in 1922 argued for free will and championed "individual initiative against the deterministic pretension of Freudian psychoanalysis." An agnostic on religious matters, Hazlitt died on July 9, 1993, at the age of 98.

In recognition of his contributions, Hazlitt was awarded an honorary doctorate from Universidad Francisco Marroquín in Guatemala.